This disclosure relates generally to computer-based mechanisms for business process monitoring, and more particularly to techniques and systems for model-oriented business process monitoring.
Modern business applications, such as Enterprise Service Oriented Applications (ESOA) provided by SAP AG of Walldorf, Germany, are business process-oriented, which means they are flexibly and effectively adapted to real-life business processes. To build such business process applications, the business platform provider usually delivers predefined business processes to a customer, and the customer adapts them to local business needs or to create its own business processes.
Such business process-oriented applications have distinct design-time and runtime contexts. For business process design-time, applications and tools are needed that support defining each model-oriented business process and help in its implementation. Second, for business process runtime, a platform is needed that performs the execution of the business processes.
In typical implementations, a expert associated with the customer defines the business process model in the business process design-time. The business process model includes elements such as business objects, service interfaces, etc. Next, the required functionality (for example proxies and implementation classes, etc.) is implemented according to the business process model definition. Accordingly, the business process model definition is used by the business process applications to execute particular business process.
The business process designer needs to be able to easily detect and solve problems that occur in the business process execution. However, in some implementations, it is not well-understood how to organize business process monitoring, or how to present a problem should one occur. Further, some implementations lack some tools that could help the business process designer or other expert detect and solve problems. Such aspects, while improving business process management and the utility of business process applications, would also reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of business process applications by the customer.